Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1887-02-11
Incidents in John ROaCl'S Lite.

Mr.. ROach lOVou 10 tell vi hlo
first interview with President Lin
coin. when the war began. He
went to Washington with IA letter
of introduction to the President
Mr.. Lincoln read it through. "What
do you wantp aske d the President.
"Nothing,D replied Mr.. Roach, "but
| supposed you might want some
thing.n 81 DO" answered Mr.. Lin
coin, "and you have brains enough
to build engines that will make
ship 90 fast enough to catch MP
with those Rebel Now-you-have-
him.and-now-you.don that are
cutting our merchant vessels into
chips, you can 60 home and make
me three pairs of them" Roach
made them; they were his first
work for the Government and we're
so successful that he afterwards did
much similar work.
With his workmen he was more
than lust. After his failure the
foreman of his machine shop said:
"The only fault the 'Old man ever
found with me about wages was
that 1 paid too little. Every now
and then he would tell me he didn't
think that this or that man was
getting enough. He had an espe-
cial fondness for any one with whom
in former years he had worked as q
iourneyman. There was an old
man here some time ago, not good
| for much because of his age. The
reason | took him in was on ac-
count of his having worked side by
side with Mr.. Roach in the Allaire
Works. One day the 'old man
happened to notice him, and asked
me who he was. l told his name.
SWhy, used to work with him. he
said quickly. 'He must be pretty
old. What are you paying himF
| "A dollar a day. | answered ; che
| isn't of much account now 'PoOr
old soul , Mr.. Roach replied, 'I sup
! pose he amt. But you'd better
double his wages, and look out to
| see that he has a decent home and
plenty of fuel these cold days.
THAT old man died blessing John
| Roach"
! Volumes could be filled with ac-
counts of such acts as this. After
| the Atlanta was launched at Ches
ter last year, Mr.. Roach returned
| to New York in company with sew
eral prominent men, among whom
was a young but well.knOwn en-
gineer. "Years ago." said Mr.. Roach
| to a friend seated by him, "thal
man was a bootblack. He used tC
come into my Office and black my
boots at night. lie was q brighI
tad, and | thought 1t a shame tina
so clever a chap should be growing
up with nothing before him but thu
life of a street boy. But he sait
he had q mother and two sisters
dependent on him, and couldn'
afford to learn a trade. He coult
make 80 a week blacking boots, bu
only S2 as an apprentice. l flnall!
offered him $S to go into the shop
SO of which he was to pay OacI
when he became q jOurneyman
and was able to do SC. When
made my assignment L was payinI
him $4,000 a year.
Mr.. Roach was pO weriul AM
original in his use of striking Il
lustrations. lie was t liking on
night with distingui shed Ere
Trader, who abused the. "war tarlll
so hard that Mr.. ROnch ilnalI
, turned on him with tllis question
"What do YOU mean by wa
tariff"
81 mean," was the Ieply, "a tarl
adopted as a war measure TO rais
extraordinar y funds for an extrao
diDary purr ose. The pres'at tarl
may have ,een all we'll en0ngh
1861 as means of obtalnln
money to prosecute the war; ou
as the oc casions for it has passe'
it shonli be reduced
, "Bnt the occasion for it has nj
I passed ;" answered, Mr.. Roach
p "Supl pose You we're the KING OF
r country about to engage IN CIV
war, your territory being hemm'
). in b y mountains which operated
O hI IT to your commerce with oth
o con ntries. Yon need money, al
q yo, / put a heavy tariff on foreII
J.. i'm ports. You fight your way al
q CT ash your rebellion. Some
8 your people say, THE war Is owe
q n ow lower the tariff" You answ'
>. ENo, | still need money to pay
q my war debt Ten, a dozen, mite
g years pass, and the Free Trade
!. again press you to lower the tar
e reminding You that the war de
IS is paid. But you say, NO; WI
n | put on this tariff the nountai
separated my country from otr
nations and served to prevent
portation. Since then the mot
tains have been tunneled. L
': mule.team has given place to I
steam railroad. The telegra
makes correspondence the work